Drop door for railway cars



Dec. 22, 1931. G G. GlLPlN DROP DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Dec. ll, 1929 Patented Dec. 22, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT 1 OFFICE GALE-TH G. GILPIN, OF RIVERSIDE, ILLI 'NOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 UNION METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .A CORPORATION 01? DELAWARE nnor noon non RAILWAY cans Application filed December 11, 1929. .Serial No. 413,237.

My invention relates to the construction of railway cars having drop doors, such as hopper cars, hopper gondola cars, drop bottom or general service gondola cars, mill type gondolas having drop end doors, or the like, having a door forming a part of the car for retainingt'he load therein, which door is provided with hinges adjacent one of its edges and is capable of being dropped or swung open. Any means of raising the door to the closed position and any means for locking and releasing the door may be employed with my device.

An object of the invention is to provide a door of asingle casting having integral reinforcing ribs so positioned as to give great strength and at the same time provide a casting which can be easily and quickly poured in the foundry and which will warp very little in cooling. v

By nature of their requirements railway freight train :cars are out of doors substantially all of the time, therefore, are subjected to corrosive action of the elements, and while paint and other non-corrosive coatings have been applied to the car parts, such protection not only has been found to be expensive in time and money, but the lading removes the coating. This isparticularlytrue of the inside of open type cars which are turned upside down in unloading machines causing the load to slide across the inside surface of the car body and also when the discharg ing load slides across the surface of a drop .door and also when the long lading rests upon the lowered drop end gate of a gondola car the friction therebetween caused by the movement of the car also removes the protective coating from the end gate. Furthermore, certain 'ladings, such as sulphur, wet coal, which. forms sulphuric acid, and saline water .'(-in refrigerator and stock cars) causerolled steel or iron to corrode. On account of its increased strength rolled steel in the form of plates and bars has supplanted wood in car construction "but the corrosive action of the elements eats away the rolled steel or 'i'ron'material reducing their strength and their length of life. This applies to 'both'theload' carrying members, such as the sills, plates'and diaphragms and also to the lading retaining members, such as side and end walls, floors, hoppers,hopper doors, etc.

It has been found that cast metal, particu- 'larly cast steel, has more than twice the re- .sist-ance to corrosion than rolled steel, therefore, one of the objects of the invention-is to make the car part of cast metal, preferably cast steel, to enable the car part to resist corrosion, and furthermore, to produce a construction wherein the metal can be disposed and positioned to accommodate the stresses set up by the car in service. Such a cast con struction necessitates a minimum amount of material for strength requirements.

Another object is to eliminate the cost-and delay in fabricating the numerous component parts of the present structural steel car parts. Another object of forming the car part of cast metal is to eliminate the possibility of loose connections which would permit relative motion between the component parts of the car part, as it is common knowledge that the vibration of the car in motion, due to rough and uneven track, and steel wheels rolling on steel rails, together with longer trains and high speeds in present day practice, cause riveted joints and built up sec-. tions to work loose and the railroadslook with favor upon any device which reduces "the number of parts and joints as these are the Weak parts of the car and the more such weak parts are eliminated, the longer the life of 3 spanning the distance between the opposite margins l of the door and terminating or .merginginto the body portion adjacent these margins. These ribs preferably vary in depth, being deepest adjacent their'midd-le portions. The body portion of the door is also reinforced by a plurality of other substantially parallel ribs 6 which are positioned at an angle to the first mentioned ribs (3) and cross them and merge into the body portion adjacent the opposite margins 7 of the door. The number and spacing of these ribs may be varied according to the load to be sustained and also the shape of the door; for instance, in the form illustrated in Fig. 1, the door is reinforced by nine ribs extending from the hinge edge (8) of the door to the opposite edge (9) thereof and only three ribs extending between the opposite sides (10) of the door, because it is desired to transfer the load to the hinge edge and the outer edge of the door.

In the form illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 the ribs 36 are closer together adjacent the middle of the door than elsewhere; in fact, in these two figures the spacing of the ribs progressively decreases toward the middle of the door. One or both groups of ribs may be made with varying spacing.

In the form shown in Fig. 5 the major ribs 20 which, preferably vary in depth, merge into the body portion of the plate adjacent diagonally opposite corners of the door and other minor ribs 21, which also preferably vary in depth, are positioned substantially parallel thereto, which minor ribs merge into the body portion of the plate adjacent the margins of the door. The door is also preferably reinforced by another major rib 22 which merges into the body adjacent the other diagonally opposite corners of the door and other minor ribs 23 which are parallel thereto. This last mentioned group of ribs also preferably vary in depth and cross the first mentioned ribs at an angle thereto. The ends of the first mentioned group of minor ribs preferably merge into the ends of the last mentioned group of minor ribs.

If desirable, the door could be further reinforced by a flange 30 adjacent its perimeter, in which case the reinforcing ribs merge into the body portion of the door adjacent this flange.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a plurality of ribs, the spacing of said ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door, and a plurality of other ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs, the spacing of the last mentioned ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door.

2. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a plurality of ribs, the spacing of said ribs progressively decreasing toward the middle of the door, and a plurality of other ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs, the spacing of the last mentioned ribs progressively decreasing toward the middle of the door.

3. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a plurality of varying depth ribs, the spac'ng of said ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door, and a plurality of other varying depth ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs, the spacing of the last mentioned ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door.

4. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a plurality of varying depth ribs merging into said body adjacent the margins of the door, the spacing of said ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door, and a plurality of other varying depth ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs merging into said body adjacent the margins of the door, the spacing of the last mentioned ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door.

5. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a plurality of ribs merging into said body adjacent the margins of the door, the spacing of said ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door, and a plurality of other ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs merging into said body adjacent the margins of the door.

6. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, and a plurality of ribs, the spacing of said ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door.

7. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, and a plurality of ribs merging into said body adjacent the margins of the door, the spacing of said ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door.

8. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, and a plurality of ribs, the spacing of said ribs progressively decreasing toward the middle of the door.

9. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a major rib merging into said body adjacent the diagonally opposite corners of the door, with other ribs parallel thereto, and another major rib merging into the body adjacent the other diagonally opposite corners of the door with other ribs parallel to the last mentioned major rib.

10. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a varying depth major rib merging into said body adjacent the diagonally opposite corners of the door with other varying depth ribs parallel thereto, and another varying depth major rib merging into the body adjacent the other diagonally opposite corners of the door with other varying depth ribs parallel to the last mentioned major rib.

11. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a-railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a major rib merging into said body adjacent the diagonally opposite corners of the door with other ribs parallel thereto, the spacing of said ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door, and another major rib merging into the body adjacent the other diagonally opposite corners of the door with other ribs parallel to the last mentioned major rib, the spacing of the last mentioned ribs decreasing towardthe middle of the door.

12. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car, consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a major rib merging into said body adjacent the diagonally opposite corners of the door with other ribs parallel thereto, and another major rib merging into the body adjacent the other diagonally opposite corners of the door.

1.3. A cast metal door for a railway car reinforced by a plurality of diagonally disposed parallel ribs, and a plurality of other diagonally disposed parallel ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs.

14. A cast metal door for a railway car reinforced by a plurality of diagonally disposed parallel ribs, and a plurality of other diagonally disposed parallel ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs, the ends of the first mentioned ribs merging into the ends of the last mentioned ribs.

15. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a. railway car consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a group of substantially parallel ribs and another group of substantially parallel ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs, the spacing of one of said groups of ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door.

16. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car consisting ofa unitary casting comprising a body, a group of substantially parallel ribs and another group of substantially parallel ribs crossing the first mentioned ribs, the spacing of one of said groups of ribs progressively decreasing toward the middle of the door.

17. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a major rib merging into said body adjacent the diagonally opposite corners of the door with a group of other ribs parallel thereto, and another major rib merging into the body adj acent the other diagonally opposite corners of the door with a group of other ribs parallel to the last mentioned major rib, the spacing of one of said groups of ribs decreasing toward the middle of the door.

. 18. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car consisting of a unitary casting comprising a body, a major rib merging into said body adjacent the diagonally opposite corners of the door with a group of other ribs parallel thereto, and another major rib merging into the body adjacent the other diagonally opposite corners of the doorwith a group of other ribs parallel to the last mentioned major rib, the spacing of one of said groups of ribs progressively decreasing toward the middle of the door.

GARTH G. GILPIN. 

